PEOPLE'S HURRICANE RELIEF FUND AND OVERSIGHT COALITION

One of the things made clear by Hurricane Katrina is you can't sit around hoping the government at any level will have your interests at heart...not if you are just a regular person anyway.

The following is from the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund & Oversight Coalition (PHRF). PHRF is working to build a People’s movement – a movement of grassroots persons disproportionately impacted by Hurricane Katrina and the dehumanizing treatment they received from local, state, and federal officials.

By grassroots, "we are referring to those members of our community who are: (1) surviving families of people who perished; (2) surviving families of those who are still missing family members; (3) survivors of the Superdome & Convention Center; (4) survivors of those left on the interstates & the Crescent City Connection; (5) survivors of sexual and law enforcement violence; (6) homeowners in the 9th ward (both upper & lower); (7) renters who are being evicted and; (8) low income displaced people/survivors of the New Orleans and Gulf Coast Region."


New Orleans Residents Confront Governor Blanco
Press Conference and Rally:
Monday Feb 6, 2006 at 2 PM
Sanchez Center, Corner of N. Claiborne and Caffin
New Orleans, LA Lower 9th Ward

Contact: Sakura Kone 917-440-9679 media@communitylaborunited.net

New Orleans Residents Confront Governor Blanco
Express Concerns about Land Grabs and Unfair Rebuild Plan

Residents of the 9th Ward and other low-lying areas plan to confront Governor Blanco during her New Orleans visit today. The Lower 9th Ward Community Council, New Orleans Area Survivor Council, State Representative Charmaine March, Common Ground and The People’s Hurricane Relief Fund are organizing to continue to make the voices of survivors heard in the struggle for a just rebuild.

Those who have returned so far would like their communities to come back and are currently working on a plan to return home that includes residents from severely damaged areas. This plan includes a community-led rebuilding project which has already begun to put homes back together.

“Right now the government is making it very difficult for folks to
return and start rebuilding in this area. We need some basic services like electricity to really get going, and we need to have our
community and our right to return respected”, said Joe Ringo of the
Lower 9th Ward Community Council. “We also need money and believe that Block Grants should be made directly to residents.”

In order to make rebuilding possible, survivors are calling for:
· Construction of Category 5 levees to protect their neighborhoods
· The return of all services immediately including power, clean water and sewage
· An end to the “green zone” plan which would turn African American communities into marshland while lower lying white areas are rebuilt
· The presentation of a more realistic flood map which portrays
normal flooding rather than levee breaches
· Block grants which put real estate under community control, not in the hands of wealthy developers or Washington appointees
· Long and short term housing options with community control,
including secure FEMA trailers